The present invention relates to a generation method for a control file for a control unit for controlling a machine having at least one final drive unit. It furthermore relates to a data carrier having a generation program stored on the data carrier and a computer for executing such a generation method.
The present invention further relates to an operating method for a control unit of a machine having at least one final drive unit. It also relates to a data carrier having an operating program stored on the data carrier and a control unit for executing such an operating method.
Finally, the present invention also relates to a machine having at least one final drive unit and a data carrier having a control file stored on the data carrier.
Machines having at least one final drive unit are generally known. Examples of such machines are machine tools, production machines and manufacturing devices. In the prior art, these machines are controlled by numeric controllers. The numeric controllers execute an application program comprising functional instruction steps, e.g. a part program conforming to DIN 66025. The application program specifies, for example, which machine operations, e.g. which traversing movements, are to be performed.
The numeric controllers have operating software comprising an operating part and a real-time part. The operating part is executed acyclically, that is to say not in real time. The real-time part comprises data preprocessing, path planning, speed control, and possibly also coordinate transformation and/or interpolation. It handles the translation of the instruction steps of the application program into machine-dependent control commands. The real-time part ensures here that this translation is performed in real time.
With this procedure, which as far as the Applicant is aware is employed without exception in the prior art, a computer is therefore present in the numeric controller itself, with a machining to be performed by the machine being specified in functional instructions for the computer. Said computer determines a sequence of control vectors on the basis of the functional instructions. The determination and the execution of the control vectors are coupled to one another here by virtue of the method.
Each control vector has a number of vector elements. Each vector element is determined for a maximum of one final drive unit of the machine. There is at least one vector element for each final drive unit of the machine. The vector elements determined for the final drive unit include at least one positioning setpoint value. The control unit staggers the execution of directly successive control vectors by a specified clock interval. As a result, the control state of each final drive unit of the machine can be determined here by the control unit for each instant on the basis of the vector elements determined for said final drive unit.
The final drive units are then also controlled by the control unit according to the control state determined by said unit. In the prior art, therefore, the control vectors are always determined online by the numeric controller and with a close temporal link to their execution, and are then output to the final drive units. No storage in the form of a control file is performed.
This procedure has many disadvantages. For instance, the computer determining the control vectors can fail. This results in machine downtimes as well as repair costs.
Furthermore, the computer must determine the control vectors in real time, as they are used immediately for controlling the final drive units of the machine. Consequently, the computing performance of the computer must be high, which entails corresponding costs. Or, the clock interval cannot be selected to be short, which may then limit the machining precision of the machine tool.
Also, it is only possible to update the control software of the numeric controller and optimize the functional instructions on site.